With crime on the rise in South Africa, should vehicle insurance be made compulsory? With the reality of limited budgets and high living costs, how does one budget for insurance? And more importanly, can one afford not to?

Official crime statistics1 show a 12.3% increase in carjacking with 11 221 reported cases. About 50% of stolen and hijacked vehicles are disposed of within South Africa, 30% are exported to other countries, and the rest find their way into chop shops and the parts market.

“Insurance in South Africa should not be seen as a luxury but rather a necessity, and South Africans need to acknowledge the fact that we live in a country with one of the highest crime rates in the world,” says Derek Wilson, Head of Hippo.co.za, the online insurance and financial services comparison website. “65% of vehicles in South Africa are uninsured, which could very likely result in the owners of these vehicles being at a financial disadvantage should an incident occur.2”

Ask Nthabiseng Motshabi, a 26-year-old female from Johannesburg whose 2010 Toyota Yaris was stolen outside her house on September 12th 2015. Her car was not insured, nor did it have a tracker. She assumed that because she was due to pay off her car in a year and she lives in a relatively “safe” neighbourhood, insurance is not a necessity.

Nthabiseng now faces the reality of paying for a car that is no longer in her possession. She agrees that although Car Insurance may be an added expense, there are more advantages to having it than not.

“Consumers could help save themselves from the financial discomfort following an insurance incident, simply by taking a couple of minutes out of their day to compare comprehensive Car Insurance quotes online from a range of different financial services providers using Hippo.co.za,” concludes Wilson. “One in two people could save hundreds of Rands per month3 on their Car Insurance alone by comparing on Hippo.co.za. You can also compare from a range of South African providers across financial products such as Personal Loans, Medical Aids, Funeral Cover, Household Insurance, Buildings Insurance, Life Insurance and more.”